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Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Pumpkins, culinary bucket list and the rental

What a day yesterday!

I roasted some sugar pumpkins, then the seeds then I made a pumpkin recipe. It was basically pumpkin hell. Making my own pumpkin puree was one of those things I always wanted to do but was too lazy, same with the seeds but I'm glad I did both. Don't get me wrong, I've got enough cans of Libby's pumpkin in the basement to qualify me for an episode of Hoarders but I still wanted to cross that one off of the culinary bucket list. Here are some of the things on my culinary bucket list:

1) Baking with yeast. It terrifies me.
2) Beef Wellington. It just sounds complicated but I want to master it.
3) Make my own pumpkin puree.
4) Make one Julia Child recipe...particularly Apple Tarte Tatin.
5) Make a dutch baby without laughing.
6) Homemade marshmallows

Countless others I'm sure.

We went down and did Atletica which hands us our butts every time. The Mr got up to refill our waters 2 hours after we finished and could barely walk. Mobility today should be interesting for us both. I can't wait until her new versions of it come out this Fall! Man, I sound like a sadist.

Dinner was crab stuffed flounder over thai lime rice with some leftover roasted root veggies. Then it was time to watch our rental, A Cabin in the Woods...having the back door open gave it extra creep factor because it was freezing cold (YES!), the leaves were rustling and crickets chirping. Thankfully it was so far fetched that I won't have to worry about it scarring me if we ever stay in another cabin in the woods. I love that Richard Jenkins (Nathaniel Fisher from Six Feet Under) was in it. I'll watch anything he's in and I particularly love it when he's a goofball like he was in that.

I get to work on a project for the Mr's birthday gathering today. I hope it goes the way it is laid out in my head. I can't wait to show you the tutorial but I can't do that until it's over since the birthday boy reads the blog daily.

Welp, that's about it for today...err, I guess yesterday.

Do you have a culinary bucket list? What are some recipes or cooking methods you'd love to try in the kitchen?

24 comments:

I'm not much for cooking so I don't have a bucket list as such. But like you I did want to make a pie from a pumpkin and did last year. It wasn't hard and the result was delicious. I can't get the brand of canned pumpkin I like where I live and the fresh pumpkin was the perfect substitute.

While I don't want to learn to make it, I would ike to try beef wellington. I've never been somewhere it was served.

Homemade marshmallows aren't too hard, I did it once. I used smittenkitchen's recipe. And my ex's kitchenaid because I was afraid the gooey mess would kill mine. (his is newer). It's fun playing in the powdered sugar =]

I've perused a few recipes that make it look so easy then I get nervous about it abandon the recipe. You know, perhaps the s'mores we're doing at the Mr's bday party would be the perfect time to make them. (Well, a trial batch first of course!

I think beef wellington is doable! My 22 year old daughter made it and I was so impressed! Pretty easy really...in guess there are a couple ways to do it but she did the one where you wrap the next in a crepe first then the pastry? It was delicious!!! I KNOW YOU CAN DO IT

Ahh, that's another one. Marinara from raw tomatoes. I just made my own from canned tomatoes/puree but I want that whole "churning my own butter" feeling that I imagine can only come from making your own marinara...um, and churning your own butter.

I have a few cinnamon roll recipes bookmarked and the thought of making sourdough curls me into the fetal position. Any good yeasty recipes you'd like to pass along would be appreciated!

Sourdough scares me too. The rolls I make for family gatherings are super easy and only take an hour including bake time. I use the dough for less sweet cinnamon rolls and krautburgers as well. I can send the recipe on if you're interested.

Yeast baking isnt that hard. I always reccomend the King Arthur Flour Bakers Companion to anyone interested in learning yeast baking. It has a ton of great recipes, but moreso offers education on the chemistry of how your cooking and how everything works together and why you should do certain things. Check it out!

I've baked my way through 2/3 of that book, but the homemade danish is always what scares me away. Eventually I will learn and master that.

Soooo I'm curious now. Will you continue to roast your own pumpkins or continue to use the canned stuff? Roasting my own pumpkins seems like a lot more work than the $1.29 for can of the stuff. :) Is the taste better?

I think I might do it one more time to make my own pumpkin pie this Thanksgiving (MAYBE-ha!) but honestly, I don't know that it's worth all the effort unless you really love pumpkin seeds too and can consider it a two-fer. Or if you're one of those people who has sworn off anything that you don't hunt and gather yourself. I'd say do it once for bragging rights, maybe for something you'll make for a crowd so you can get some praise then go back to the canned stuff. ;)

Beef wellington is on my list too. I figure if I can cook that, I'm pretty much a pro. I made the beef bourguignon yesterday and it was super easy...I just dumped everything into the crock pot and let it sit for 10 hours. It's very much like beef stew but with wine. The onions soak up all that juice and it's pretty amazing.

Ok, back to the list: beef wellington, rissoto, amazing chilli (I've made it but it isn't great), a turkey with stuffing in it and probably a pie from scratch. I made bread once but I was assisted during the process so I don't count it...so maybe that too.

My mom won't touch any recipe with yeast in it either--it's not too hard--jump in!! It's been a bad week so my brain is fried as to my culinary bucket list at the moment but I'm always ready to try new reicpes. Speaking of which, I cooked up some chicken the other day and had read somewhere that to shred chicken (for quesadillas or soup or whatever) to put it in my Kitchenaid mixer with the whisk attachment. I tried it and it was great! I put the chicky in there straight from the pan all steaming too-hot-to-touch and turned that bad boy on and in no time at all my chicky was all shredded and still warm! I've been meaning to pass that little tip on to you!

I'd like to make homemade ravioli/spaghetti some day. I got the presses (after ASKING for them) years ago and have never used them. No doubt my Mr is bummed out about that. I should research a good 100% whole wheat pasta.

I also need to learn how to cook squash! STAT!

I am dying to hear/see all about the Mr's birthday bash! If we can't wait he must be going bonkers! ("Hi" to the Mr.)

I'm totally with you on the marshmallows & the Julie Child recipes! I want to do those for sure. As for the dutch baby, I have *NOT A CLUE* what you are talking about :/ PS. Cabin in the Woods was absolutely fabulous! I loved it, especially b/c you could tell it was directed by Joss Whedon who was responsible for Buffythe Vampire Slayer! It totally had that Buffy appeal. Score.

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